Based on the novel by Dan Simmons, The Terror tells the harrowing story of John Franklin’s real-life 1840s expedition to find the Northwest Passage. No one knows exactly what happened to the famous lost expedition, and so Simmons runs wild with speculation. The novel first begins as a seemingly straightforward account, as Franklin’s ships the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror get bogged down in ice. With the ships stranded in the Arctic thousands of miles from home, the story becomes a harrowing tale of survival. But soon we learn that the stranded crew have more to worry about than the brutal Arctic conditions. Someone – or something – lurks out there on the ice. And it appears to be hungry.

AMC has dropped a new trailer for The Terror, teasing the show’s blend of 19th Century Arctic adventure and survival horror. Ridley Scott produced the series through his Scott Free productions. Series creator David Kajganich (A Bigger Splash) adapted Simmons’ very thick novel and serves as executive producer. See the pulse pounding trailer above.

The Terror stars Steppenwolf actor Ciaran Hinds as captain John Franklin, leader of the doomed expedition. Mad Men star Jared Harris plays Francis Crozier, who serves as captain of the HMS Terror. Tobias Menzies (aka Edmure Tully) plays James Fitzjames, skipper of the HMS Erebus. Nive Nielsen plays the key role of Lady Silence, an Inuit woman who joins the crew, and has a strange connection to the mysterious goings-on. Paul Ready, Adam Nagaitis, Edward Ashley, Matthew McNulty, Liam Garrigan and Ronan Raftery round out the cast.

Simmons’ highly detailed novel has been rendered into what appears to be a very good-looking series. The icy Arctic setting indeed looks forbidding and scary. The trailer sets up the survival elements of the story while also teasing the horror that slowly takes over. As the mystery unfolds, the psychological effects of the situation begin taking their toll on the men’s sanity. The way Simmons pays everything off in his book is truly memorable. We’ll see if Kajganich and his cast are able to capture the novel’s sense of epic adventure as well as its gripping, supernatural horror.